Automated dialing systems are, in general, well known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,797,911, 4,894,857, and 5,070,525, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, disclose automated outbound dialing and inbound call processing systems. In addition, certain other advantageous techniques are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 533,489, filed Jun. 5, 1990, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Dynamic And Interdependent Processing Of Inbound Calls And Outbound Calls", now U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,688, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 703,158, filed May 20, 1991, entitled "Automated Voice System For Improving Agent Efficiency And Improving Service To Parties On Hold", now U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,505, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. These patents and patent applications are herein collectively referred to as "documents" and are herein incorporated by reference. The systems described in these documents improve the efficiency of an agent by eliminating the need for the agent to look up a customer telephone number, dial the telephone number, wait for the call to be answered, etc. In addition, the systems described in these documents allow certain information to be gathered without the assistance of an agent so that some incoming calls may be completely processed without agent intervention. In addition, the systems described in these documents automatically adjust the number of agents and lines for inbound calls and the number of agents and lines for outbound calls in response to traffic conditions and customer requirements, relieve the agent of the necessity of waiting for a party to be summoned, and advise the called or calling parties of their status in a hold queue and/or the time they may expect to remain on hold.
With respect to outbound calling systems, a call pacing algorithm is generally used to adjust the rate of placement of outbound calls so that, ideally, when a called party answers an agent is available, and when an agent is available a called party has just answered. However, in practice, because a call may last a shorter time or a longer time than expected, an agent may not be available when a called party answers or an agent may be available when a called party has not yet answered. In order to maximize the utility of the agents, users of such systems frequently demand that the call pacing algorithm be adjusted to err on the side of calling too many parties rather than too few parties.
If a called party answers before an agent is available then, in those states where it is permitted, the party may be placed on hold or an interactive session may be conducted. In addition, the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,525 discloses a method which serves to reduce the number of called parties that answer when an agent is not available by monitoring the connect time of the agents and terminating a call, before the call is answered, if it appears that an agent will not be available at the time a call is expected to be answered.
However, some calls will still be answered when an agent is not available to handle the call. Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for terminating, in a non-offensive manner, an outbound call which has been answered when an agent is not available to handle the outbound call.
Furthermore, many systems use algorithms in an attempt to determine whether the call was answered by a live person or by a machine, such as an answering machine. The systems generally hang up if the call was answered by a machine. However, if the algorithm incorrectly determines that the call was answered by a machine when the call was actually answered by a live person then the person may take offense when the system abruptly terminates the call by hanging up. Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for terminating, in a non-offensive manner, an outbound call which was incorrectly determined to have been answered by an answering machine.
In addition, agent efficiency is reduced if the agent connected to a call which has been answered by an answering machine. Therefore, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for determining whether a call has been answered by a person or by a machine.
In some areas, particularly in some countries, the incoming signal on the telephone line may be corrupted by noise bursts, including bursts which have a pattern like that of ignition noise. In such areas the noise bursts may be occasionally interpreted as an answer of the outgoing call, even while the ringing for the outgoing call is still appearing on the telephone line. This can cause an agent to be prematurely connected to an outgoing call before it is answered, or erroneously connected to an outgoing call which is never answered. Therefore, there is a need for a noise suppression technique which minimizes the effects of such noise.